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U.S. Surpasses 12 Million Coronavirus Cases; Interview with Rep. James Clyburn (D-SD); F.D.A. will Review Pfizer Vaccine for Emergency Use. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired November 21, 2020 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[18:00:34]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Top of the hour on this Saturday. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Erica Hill in for Ana Cabrera and we begin with breaking news.

The coronavirus pandemic that has hit the United States harder than any other country, well, just look at the number on your screen. We have now surpassed 12 million confirmed cases of the virus here in the United States. We have watched that number rise throughout the day today.

Each one of those numbers, each one of those more than 12 million nearly 44,000 cases is a person. A mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a brother, a sister, a friend. Someone who is either currently infected or perhaps dealing with the after effects of this disease, which we are only just now beginning to learn about of those long-lasting effects.

More than 12 million cases, and the number of American who's have died, that number has risen above 255,000 today, lives lost to this pandemic.

Officials at the C.D.C. increasingly worried that people will not follow their urgent warnings to avoid traveling for Thanksgiving, to avoid gathering with anybody except for those in your immediate household.

A brand new guidance from the C.D.C., most infections are spread by people who don't show any symptoms, even more than previously thought, actually. That means that those people could spread the virus to so many more without, of course, even knowing it.

The President today, as the country surpassed 12 million coronavirus case, well, still no sign of a transition from the President, unless you count his abrupt transition to the golf course after he skipped out on a virtual G-20 session on the pandemic.

CNN White House correspondent, Jeremy Diamond join me now. So Jeremy, where is the President at this point? And I don't just mean where physically, right? We saw him go to his golf course in Virginia. He was there for a little bit for the G-20 Summit, but then out. I mean, what is his focus on this Saturday? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, it is

interesting as the President is fighting tooth and nail to stay in office, to overturn the results of a democratic election, the President at the same time is showing very little interest in actually governing, in the business of the presidency.

Over the last couple weeks since the election, we've seen the President with very few public events on his schedule. He hasn't taken questions from reporters since Election Day. He is nowhere to be found as is relates to addressing this coronavirus pandemic.

And this morning, after briefly attending one of the sessions of the G-20 World Leaders Summit, the President then decided to skip a side meeting on the pandemic. It was a G-20 pandemic on pandemic preparedness, instead, the President heading off to his golf course, hitting the links as other world leaders were talking about how to address this worsening coronavirus pandemic.

At the same time as that is happening, we see the President is turning to other measures to try and stay in office. Twenty eight of his lawsuits or his allies' lawsuits have either been dropped or dismissed.

Over the last couple of weeks, the President has instead turned to try and pressuring state lawmakers to help him overturn the results of the election.

But all of this is being met with growing pressure from Republican Members of Congress. We have seen over the last week, even those Republican law makers who believe the President has the right to carry out these legal challenges as much as he can, they have started to say, well, the transition should at least begin. Joe Biden should be allowed to get certain briefings.

And now, we are hearing today from the first Member of the House Republican leadership to actually exert even a modicum of pressure on this President.

Congresswoman Liz Cheney, she is saying in a statement that, "If the President cannot prove these claims or demonstrate that they would change the election results, he should fulfill his oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States by respecting the sanctity of our electoral process."

She also notes that so far, the President and his team haven't presented this evidence of widespread voter fraud in the courts. If he does have the evidence, she says that he should present it now, otherwise, essentially, she is saying get out of the way -- Erica.

HILL: We will see if that has an impact. Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

Well, as the President continues to block a formal transition, President-elect Biden is moving forward with what he can do. So where does that put us on this Saturday?

CNN political correspondent, Arlette Saenz has been following the Biden team closely and joins me now.

So Arlette, as we look at this, the Biden team really trying not to give President Trump too much oxygen, especially as he is blocking this transition.

But it is having a real impact even as they are trying to circumvent it to the best of their ability.

[18:00:13]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is, Erica, and there are certain elements of Biden's transition that he really can't get under way without this G.S.A. ascertainment that has yet to come for him. You know, they do not have access to classified Intelligence briefings on national security advisers.

They also do not have access to the administration's planning when it comes to the distribution of a coronavirus vaccine. That is something that you have heard President-elect Joe Biden and his team of advisers really raise issue with over the course of the past week as they are trying to craft their own plans for combatting the pandemic.

And they have warned that without access to that distribution plan for the vaccine, that they could be weeks or even months behind in their planning process. But you've seen the President-elect trying to project the sense that he is still moving forward with his transition.

He is gathering his own team of experts. He has also recently met with Democratic leadership on Capitol Hill, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer came here to Delaware yesterday to meet with him as they were trying to show this united front.

And Biden over the course of the weekend has been meeting with his transition advisers and a little while ago, he attended church here in Wilmington, Delaware at St. Anne's Catholic Church, and as he was leaving mass, Biden was asked whether Americans across the country should be able attend religious services amid this pandemic and Biden responded saying, yes, safely.

We have seen the President-elect attending mass several times over the course of the past few weeks. He has also noted himself that his own church has limited the number of people who can attend mass and the church services due to the pandemic so this is an issue as he is trying to grapple and plan with his own plans for the pandemic. This is an issue that he has put front and center.

HILL: Arlette Saenz with the latest for us. Arlette, thank you.

My next guest has been credited with saving Joe Biden's campaign, securing him the Democratic nomination for President. Congressman Jim Clyburn's endorsement helped launch Biden to victory in South Carolina, helped reinvigorate his campaign in the final stretch.

Congressman, good to have you with us tonight. Listen, it is true, are you one of the reasons we are now discussing President-elect Biden at this point. You and South Carolina voters played a very important role helping them to rally pack in February.

I am curious, as you look at what is on the table now, eight months later, with Joe Biden as President-elect. He is taking over a country that is in a divided state dealing with this virus, which impacts just about everything.

What are your expectations? What does he need to deliver after January 20th?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC): Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me. Let's begin to put the real issue is in this campaign and before this country and that is COVID-19.

This coronavirus is just wreaking havoc on our country. Here in South Carolina, people are redoing all kind of plans, people are canceling family gatherings. We are really concerned that the deaths are taking their toll and nothing like this had to happen.

If we had national leadership, we could be in a very different place today and that is what Joe Biden is going to be faced with.

I want to see him do a lot of things. But I want to see us as a country get beyond this pandemic so first and foremost, it has got to be, get this virus under control.

And it's a shame that the President of the United States is refusing to share all of this information that is needed to this administration -- with the incoming administration.

We have got to have the information in order to do it right and the people of this country need to rally behind Joe Biden, the President- elect and they need to do what is necessary to tell this President, this country is not his and the citizens of this country are not to be played with and that is what he is doing. He is playing with their lives and that, to me, is a shame.

And the people around the world are looking at this country and wondering, what have we come to? This is no longer that shining beacon on the hill that so many people around the world looked up to.

[18:10:08]

CLYBURN: This President is putting this country in a very bad place and that to me should incur the wrath of every single American who wishes to keep breathing and wish their families can have a better Holiday Season and a better way of life going forward.

HILL: Congressman, as you look at COVID-19, right, that is clearly the priority as you point out. But where do you begin? Is it prioritizing vaccine distribution? Is it prioritizing testing which is a mess right now? Is it prioritizing a national mask mandate?

I mean, how are you within COVID-19, where does the priority need to be in your eyes?

CLYBURN: The priority has to be on testing and tracing. We've got to do the testing in order to see who is affected and where it started from. You've got to trace it in order to do that.

And we have got to have the resources and the information as to know what to do and where to do it.

You know, I chaired the Coronavirus Oversight Committee and I can tell you, we've had nothing but trouble with this administration. We just saw what -- three or four days ago, there were $490 million that small businesses, the Main Street Project should have and not only that, the Treasury trying to take that money back, putting it back into the Treasury.

People need to money. They need to be out on the street. And I want to thank Chairman Powell for saying to Mr. Mnuchin that that is not the way to go.

I wrote him a letter saying that makes no sense. How do you tell people that we want to get back to business and you have taken the assistance that we gave them, Congress gave them this money in order to keep them afloat and here he is taking the money back, putting it back into the Treasury in order to cripple the incoming administration?

This is a sin and a shame. I never thought I would see this kind of myopic leadership sitting in the White House of these United States. I don't know what to say about that kind of foolishness.

HILL: When you look at the need that is out there, I know you see it in South Carolina. We see it across the country, these pictures, and people waiting for hours on end at a food distribution. So many Americans who have never needed to ask for help before in their lives.

They are tired of politics. They don't want to hear about Mitch McConnell, they don't want to hear Speaker Pelosi. They want help.

Is there a chance that that help is coming in this lame duck session? Is there a chance that Americans will get the help that they need?

Again, they don't care about the politics, right, not the people that I talk to. They care about what they need and they care about their families and the fact that they are very close to not being able to provide for them. They don't know that they will have a home to live in come 2021.

CLYBURN: Well, I agree with you. Unfortunately, it is the political process that they have to look to in order to get the help that they need.

The House has put two big bills up, one, Heroes Act, $3.2 trillion. We came back and reduced the size of it in order to try to make it more attractive to Mr. McConnell and he has rejected that.

He doesn't want to do anything and we are told that 20 or 25 senators have said they are not going to vote for anything. I wish he would put some bill on the floor.

If he puts the bills on the floor, there would be enough Republicans and enough Democrats voting for it. It would not be, if he were to do that. But he has decided, unless he can do it with his Republicans alone, he is just not going to do it.

We have Democrats and Republicans and independents that make up this great country. Put the bill on the floor and let's see what happens to it. Don't take your partisanship out on the American people and that's what he is doing here.

HILL: Congressman, real quickly before we let you go, how are you feeling about bipartisan efforts heading into the Biden administration?

CLYBURN: You know, I said throughout this campaign, Joe Biden kept saying that this was a campaign to restore the soul of America. I have said from day one, borrowing from Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy of America," that this country is great because its people are basically good and if the people of America never cease to be good, this country will cease to be great.

[18:15:18]

CLYBURN: I sincerely believe that the greatness of this country is at stake because we have a President that rather than trying to bring people together are trying to drive people apart, Joe Biden is the polar opposite of that.

He spent his whole life bringing people together. He empathizes the way this President seems to not be able to.

I have always said that we are all the sum total of our experiences. But when you look at the experiences Joe Biden has had, he knows what tragedy is. He knows what illness is. He knows what sadness is and he has lived through it all and I really believe those experience are going to work on behalf of the American people.

He is going to bring this country together and we are going to be able to move into the future in a better way than we had over the last 40 years.

HILL: Congressman James Clyburn, good to have you with us tonight. Thank you.

CLYBURN: Thank you for having me.

Hill: One million new cases of coronavirus confirmed in just the last six days. Thanksgiving, of course, is on Thursday and that number will likely continue to soar throughout this week and beyond. So is there really hope on the way?

What about the vaccine? Where do we stand now? That's next, live, from the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:51] HILL: The United States has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any

country in the world. Today, we pass yet another grim milestone, more than 12 million confirmed coronavirus cases and counting here in the United States.

While much of the nation continue to trend in the wrong direction, just yesterday, the nation adding more than 195,000 new cases. That is the highest single day reporting of new infections yet. It is also the 19th day in a row where daily new cases have surpassed 100,000.

In Texas today, a team of National Guard personnel was mobilized to El Paso to provide mortuary support.

We want to go now to CNN's Paul Vercammen is joining us from Los Angeles. You know, California, one of the states we are looking at that has continued to shatter its own records for daily highs and the situation is really tough and California is putting new strict measures in place to try to get things under control. What's happening there?

PAUL VERCAMMEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what's happened here, Erica, is we now have 15,000 cases breaking at record as you alluded to in California, about a third of them here in Los Angeles County behind me, the largest testing site in the nation, they are getting people tested.

They are also implementing a curfew here in California. Beginning at 10:00 tonight, no more gathering or clustering up in restaurants, inside restaurants, outside restaurants or bars.

That curfew doesn't prohibit someone from going out and taking a walk or visiting a friend or making a run to get gas or something like that. But it is in place until 5:00 in the morning. It is aimed directly at knocking down so to speak, groups of young people gathering together. That was one of the aims of this new measure that some people say is rather harsh, but others say, it is needed to stem the tide of these rising cases in California -- Erica.

HILL: And this surge in cases, there is also a surge in need we should point out, in California and across the country. I know you were at a food distribution a little earlier today where people have been lined up for hours.

This is not just about -- this is not about getting a Thanksgiving turkey. This is about a consistent need that is growing in California and, frankly, the rest of the country.

VERCAMMEN: Yes, since the pandemic has raged on, the economic impacts have been dramatic. This is one of the poorest neighborhoods in California. This is the second poorest assembly district in the Koreatown neighborhood.

We saw people lining up for blocks around to get in line, to get that box of food, a thousand we went through at one point that they just had to throw up their hand and say, we are sorry, we are out of food. We will direct you to some other food pantry giveaways. It's all shocking, even to those who are on the ground in these

neighborhoods as community activists every day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLOS MARROQUIN, VOLUNTEER: The level of worry that people have right now have gone to levels that I have never seen before. People are so desperate. They spend the night here trying to get groceries, you know, a box of groceries, so they are desperate. They are hurting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VERCAMMEN: And what he was alluding to is not just losing a job, but also having a job, but your hours dramatically cut in half or cut down to a third. Tough times on the streets there -- Erica.

HILL: Yes, absolutely. Paul Vercammen, appreciate it. Thank you.

Well, as we all absorb this new reality, the U.S. passing another milestone, more 12 million cases of the coronavirus. The F.D.A. this week announced it scheduled a meeting of its outside advisory panel for early December to discuss Pfizer's application for Emergency Ruse Authorization for its coronavirus vaccine.

Dr. Paul Offitt is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He is a member of that F.D.A. vaccine advisory panel, great to have you with us.

So let's begin here with Pfizer's application. Just give folks a sense, so what is this process? What's the potential time line here?

DR. PAUL OFFITT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER-CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, normally, a company would submit a biological license application for a license product which takes about a year. You can get an expedited review in six months, obviously that's not what we are doing now.

Although, the size of this trial is as big as any sort of Phase 3 trial for any pediatric vaccine, obviously, we want to evaluate that much sooner.

So, I think what the F.D.A. is going to do is over the next couple of weeks, they are going to look through reams of data, have an opinion and then present all of those data in more bite size form to our committee, the F.D.A.'s vaccine advisory committee on December 10th.

[18:25:27]

OFFITT: Then assuming we agree and approve this mRNA vaccine, then within a day or two, we will go to the C.D.C. where it will be reviewed by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practice.

So it is completely possible that if things goes smoothly and there is no surprises, by the end of December, we could have these vaccines rolling off the assembly line into the arms of the American public. HILL: Which is so encouraging. What specifically, as you point out,

if everything goes smoothly, what are we looking for? We've heard the data that has been released about efficacy. There are safety issues, obviously. Are those the two main things you are looking for?

OFFITT: Sure. Normally, this would be a licensed product if it had been studied longer. We are just going to know that this vaccine is effective and it appears to be highly effective for a couple of months. Does that mean it is going to be effective for six months or a year? The odds are yes, but you know, you are not going to do two or three or four-year studies to see whether it is effective for longer when the virus has killed 250,000 people this year.

In terms of safety, you know, the studies have been done looking at two months of safety data in tens of thousands of people after dose two. That we will pick up virtually all of the severe safety issues that have come up with vaccines, so I think that, too, is you're jumping with a net.

So I do think that for all of the information you're going to have in hand for safety and efficacy, we are going to be able to move forward. You now, you never know everything. The question is, when do you know enough to say that the benefits of this vaccine or these vaccines clearly definitively outweigh their theoretical risks?

HILL: So when we talk about when doses could be available, right, when we can get this into the arms of Americans, this does not mean, you know that everybody -- I mean, I am not going to have access to that vaccine right in the beginning, it is pretty much understood that for priority, that will likely go to those on the frontlines, healthcare workers. I think most Americans agree that that is the route to go.

There are separate committees who are going to be talking about how to prioritize who else gets the vaccine and this is where, you know, there are different opinions. Should it go to those who are highest risk, say, older Americans, people with preexisting conditions? Should it go to younger people, who seem to be spreading it more often, at least this fall as we have seen and many of them with asymptomatic spread.

How do you weigh that? How will the panels decide who should have priority?

OFFITT: Right, that's the -- the F.D.A. will approve use through Emergency Ruse Authorization for various groups. In other words, it will say we have data that says this can be given to people over 65 or be given to people with some medical conditions.

But it is really the Advisory Committee For Immunization Practice that on Monday actually, November 23rd is going to go through what they consider to sort of be 1A, 1B, 1C, how they are going to order essential workers, like those in healthcare, transportation, law enforcement, et cetera.

And then you know, in terms of people over 65, people with high-risk medical conditions. That is actually going to be Monday's meeting.

HILL: There is a lot of hope and there is a lot of focus on that vaccine and that's something that we all need right now.

There has also been a healthy dose of reality that has come from experts like yourself, as we look at the real timeline for the majority of Americans to get vaccinated, so between now and let's say the spring when it's more widely available, what do we need to do to make sure that we are all being smart as we move towards a vaccine.

OFFITT: Well, we're not helpless here. I mean, help is on the way with this vaccine as we get sort of 10 million people in the United States, 20 million, 50 million people. You will you start to see this disease decline, but in the meantime, you know, we do have the ability to protect ourselves and protect those we come in contact with, with hygienic measures like masking and social distancing. We can do that.'

I mean, the estimates are that over the next couple of months, as many as a hundred thousand more people will die. That doesn't have to happen. We really can protect ourselves. I have to believe there is a societal will to do this. It is not that hard.

Just assume that you are asymptomatically infected, assume everyone you come in contact with is asymptomatically infected. We are not going to test our way out of this. Just do that in the next couple of months, and then as the vaccines roll out, I think things will get much better so that by next Thanksgiving, I think we will be in a much, much better situation.

So hang in there.

HILL: Hang in there. I am focusing on that, and I promise you, I am wearing my mask. Dr. Paul Offitt, I appreciate it as always, thank you.

OFFITT: Thank you.

HILL: The Navajo Nation now under a second lockdown. Fears are growing about its healthcare system that it could be pushed to the edge. More on that, just ahead.

Plus this just in to CNN, as the U.S. logs more than 12 million coronavirus cases, Britain's Prime Minister is set to announce on Monday the England national lockdown now has an end date, December 2nd.

This news coming as Britain's Office for National Statistics announced the number of new COVID-19 cases appears to be leveled off. The country went into lockdown just over two weeks ago, following an uptick in infections.

Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:43] HILL: The Navajo Nation reported its highest jump in new coronavirus

cases in one day. It is in the middle of a three-week lockdown now as the second wave of coronavirus cases takes hold. The first surge but extreme pressure on the healthcare system there and Navajo Nation was forced to send patients off the reservation for treatment.

[18:35:01]

But as the rest of us is surging as well, going elsewhere for treatment may not be an option this time as CNN's Martin Savidge reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT(voice over): Winter-like cold has returned to the Navajo Nation so as Coronavirus. Last spring COVID-19 devastated the sprawling 27,000 square mile Navajo reservation that stretches across Arizona, New Mexico and Utah.

In May, per capita Navajo infection rates surpassed New York and New Jersey. Dee Dixson's younger sister among those impacted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DARLENE DIXSON, NAVAJO NATION RESIDENT: She went in to get tested and she said she tested positive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Just two weeks later Dixson listened helplessly over the phone as her sister's COVID battle ended in a distant hospital room.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIXSON: I was talking to her and I was telling her, sissy, you can't go and you have to come home to us. By 5:45, you just hear that tone of her heart stopping and the doctor came on the phone and she said she was gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Now, COVID's back. Navajo health officials warned of the virus' uncontrolled spread in 34 communities and fear an outbreak as bad as spring or worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JILL JIM, NAVAJO DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR: The cases just have been increasing. There is no plateau. There's no flattening.

SAVIDGE: How many ICU beds do you have here?

DR. LORETTA CHRISTENSEN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER NAVAJO AREA HIS: We have 14 in Navajo area. Here at this site we have six. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Last time the Navajo sent many of their cases off reservation to larger hospitals in New Mexico and Arizona. Health volunteers poured in. That's not likely this time. Hospitals nationwide are struggling to find beds for their own critical cases, so the Navajo are preparing to fight alone, locking down the entire Navajo Nation for three weeks announcing the news on Navajo Radio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. I hope everybody woke up feeling good, feeling that they want to stay home and take care of themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Under the order, people can only leave their homes for emergencies or essentials. Government offices and businesses must close. Learning is online. Gas stations and grocery stores can open but under limited hours and capacity using strict sanitizing procedures.

SAVIDGE(on camera): Checkpoints like this one are designed to limit off-nation travel. Meanwhile, non-residents and tourists can pass through. They just can't stop.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Face masks already mandated, now are encouraged to be worn indoors with family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN NEZ, PRESIDENT, NAVAJO NATION: And we're like an island in Navajo Nation, so if you have record-breaking numbers all around us, it will come in to that nation or that area, and that's what's happening today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Aggressive screening continues. Officials say more than 50 percent of the nation's residents have already been tested and more than 250 contact tracers work to isolate transmission. Health officials have identified sites to quarantine thousands and to place hundreds of hospital beds.

Native utility crews race to bring electricity to some of the roughly 30 percent of Navajo who live without it saving them searching for firewood or fuel and running water to about the 40 percent who have none to make hand washing and hygiene easier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With this little help, it will greatly improve their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): So far the strict lockdown has received little pushback perhaps because even those who have already endured agonizing loss realized there is still so much more the Navajo could lose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DIXON: To keep us safe, to keep us alive, that's what the lockdown is for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAVIDGE(voice over): Martin Savidge, CNN Window Rock, Navajo Nation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: Well, as the President golfs, many G20 world leaders were holding a meeting on the coronavirus pandemic. The lame duck session has begun, but that's not supposed to mean that nothing gets done.

Just ahead, our presidential daily briefing with Sam Vinograd. That's up next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:43:12]

HILL: Not surprisingly, the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed more than 1.3 million people worldwide, is dominating this year's G20 Summit. As world leaders convened virtually to discuss the pandemic today, President Trump didn't attend that particular session. Instead, this is what he chose to do. He went golfing.

Remember, no country in the world has battled this virus in quite the way or quite as badly as the United States. Nearly every state as you see there on your map now reporting a surge in new cases over the past week. More than 12 million infections in this country to date. More than 10,000 deaths reported in just the last week from the virus and nationwide there are now more people in the hospital for COVID than at any time since the pandemic began.

All this brings us to our presidential weekly briefing, CNN National Security Analyst Samantha Vinograd joining me now. So Sam, as we look at this, we have the president skipping the pandemic preparedness discussion to go golfing. Practically, on a practical level, what is the message that that sends to his fellow world leaders?

SAM VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Erica, clearly Trump isn't even pretending to care about combating COVID anymore. His prioritization of personal playtime over pandemic preparedness is really just a metaphor for how he's confronted the virus over the past several months. It is so disrespectful to the millions of Americans impacted by the virus, not to mention disrespectful to other G20 leaders.

With that said, I don't think anyone really missed him this morning. I've been to G20 summits with Obama. I can tell you, the U.S. used to lead the work of the G20. Trump has been a wrecking ball. He has been a staunch opponent of the foundational principle of the G20, which is multilateralism and he has fought against core G20 priorities like combating climate change.

[18:45:05]

Trump has been an irritant for almost four years and now frankly he is irrelevant. G20 leaders have already congratulated President-elect Joe Biden and they've said publicly that they look forward to working with Biden going forward. So at this point, the G20 has moved on from President Trump and overall, I think G20 leaders breathe a sigh of relief when election results rolled in a few weeks ago.

HILL: Well, in terms of the President himself, we know he's made very few public appearances since the election. We have seen him golfing a fair amount, but what else has he been doing? He is still the President of the United States.

VINOGRAD: He is and he's out of sight, but he's not out of mind because somehow in between rage tweeting and golfing, he's making major policy moves and this is not wholly without precedent. There is no law limiting and outgoing President's ability to make policy in his final days in office.

In fact, several of Trumps predecessors have made major decisions during their lame duck sessions. Bush 41 sent 28,000 troops to Somalia during his last few days in office and President Clinton, for example, signed a highly controversial treaty to establish the International Criminal Court in December of 2000.

Trump is following suit and then some. He's already announced withdrawals from Iraq and Afghanistan, Somalia, maybe next. His Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited in Israeli settlement in the West Bank, which is considered illegal under international law and his administration has rolled out more aggressive moves against Iran and China.

And we have 59 days left so we may see more major foreign policy decisions. And while Trump's predecessors have made midnight, our policy moves based on the sensibly what they think is good for this country, Trump seems to be more motivated by spite and trying to box Biden in. That's the differentiating factor here.

HILL: So then what more should we expect? I mean, as you point out, this is likely not done for President Trump. What do you think could be coming down the pike?

VINOGRAD: Well, let's remember that until January 20 at 11:59 am, Trump has pardon power. So a pardon party for Trump's power is mostly expected at this point. On the personnel front, we know that Trump has already fired a slew of senior officials after election results came in. The Director of the CIA and Director of FBI are rumored to be next. That has an impact on the transition.

These senior officials will not be part of the transition process and will not be able to hand over their institutional knowledge to the incoming administration. I'm also really worried about presidential records.

We know that President Trump has seized notes from notetakers in the past from his meetings with Putin and even though he has a legal obligation to turn over all of his records to the National Archives, I don't think that we can necessarily count on that. When it comes to intelligence, we know that he has made selective declassification of intelligence in the past and we can expect more of that going forward, as he tries to do as much damage as he can to his perceived political rivals.

So for that reason, Erica, we may have more than policy damage on the horizon.

HILL: Sam Vinograd, appreciate it as always. Thank you.

VINOGRAD: Thanks.

HILL: Tomorrow on the CNN Original Series First Ladies, the focus is on Hillary Clinton, a born leader, a fearless advisor, a political force. That is tomorrow 10 pm right here on CNN.

A judge has just dismissed another lawsuit brought by the Trump campaign, this one in Pennsylvania sought to invalidate millions of mail-in votes. We are live at the White House with what this means next.

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[18:53:27]

HILL: A breaking news, another lawsuit from the Trump campaign dismissed, this time in Pennsylvania. Jeremy Diamond is at the White House with the latest. So what was in this lawsuit that was just dismissed, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the 29th lawsuit brought by the President's or his allies that has been either dismissed or withdrawn. In this case it is a dismissal by a federal judge, U.S. District Court Judge Matthew Brann, who is essentially throwing this case out of court making very clear that the Trump campaign's legal arguments here did not hold up water.

Interestingly, this is the very same case in which we saw former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani actually head into federal courts to make the arguments on behalf of the Trump campaign after two previous legal teams withdrew from this case in terms of representing the Trump campaign. I want to read you a quick section of this, because the language makes quite clear what this Judge's views are about the arguments put forward by Rudy Giuliani and other members of the Trump campaign legal team.

Because in this case, the Trump campaign essentially sought to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying the results of this election, arguing that's because of certain counties allowed voters to cure their ballots, cure their mail-in ballots, meaning correct technical glitches, technical errors with the submission of those ballots that all of the votes in Pennsylvania should be thrown out. And this is what this Federal Judge, Matthew Brann, says of that.

He says, "One might expect that when seeking such a startling outcome, a plaintiff would come formidably armed with compelling legal arguments and factual proof of rampant corruption." But then he says, "That has not happened, instead this court has been presented with stained legal arguments without merit and speculative accusations.

[18:55:07]

So very clear that this judge did not feel that the Trump campaign's legal arguments came anywhere close to allowing for the disenfranchisement, as this judge says, of those nearly 7 million votes cast in the State of Pennsylvania. And this is once again another legal defeat for President Trump and his attempts to overturn the results of this election.

HILL: And as you point out, Jeremy, and now we are up to 29. Jeremy Diamond live at the White House for us. I appreciate it. Thank you.

We will continue our coverage right here on CNN. I'm Erica Hill in New York. Thanks so much for spending some time with us this afternoon. My colleague, Wolf Blitzer, picks up CNN's live coverage, a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM after this quick break, stay with us.